


knitting needles

by wormskull



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (Mai), Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Aromantic, Asexual Character, Biphobia, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Panic, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Humor, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Insecure Sokka (Avatar), Internalized Homophobia, Knitting, M/M, Misunderstandings, No Smut, Nonbinary Character, Sokka (Avatar) Has ADHD, Stress Baking, Swearing, The Jasmine Dragon (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar) Has Issues, ft Zuko's Hair from Book Two, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29786280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wormskull/pseuds/wormskull
Summary: Sokka is the captain of the basketball team. Zuko is the captain of the volleyball team. They're rivals, constantly clashing and at each other's throats - or at least, that's what everyone expects them to be.It's a recipe for disaster.
Relationships: Aang & Toph Beifong & Katara & Sokka & Suki & Zuko, Aang/Katara (Avatar), Azula & Mai & Ty Lee, Azula & Mai & Ty Lee & Zuko, Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Jet/Original Character(s), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar) (Mentioned), Sokka/Yue (Avatar) (Mentioned), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	knitting needles

Old habits die hard I guess, so here are two moodboards that I made for our boys Sokka and Zuko, respectively.

Here's the fic! Enjoy!

><><><

Sokka woke up at 6am as usual, had a shower and quickly got dressed, using a combination of new clothes pulled out of his closet at random and some clothes left on the floor from yesterday. He rushed downstairs and went to get some cereal, only to realize that Katara had got to it earlier than him and had already finished it. He did manage to get some toast to eat, but that always took longer. He ran to the bathroom as quickly as he could and brushed his teeth. He ran back to the entrance, took his backpack and was just putting his shoes on when Katara asked, “Why are you always in such a rush to get to school early? It doesn’t start til like, an hour.” 

“Volleyball boy is going to be there.” he replied, as if it were obvious.

“The guy you have a crush on?” 

“It is not a crush, alright?! Why must you bully your brother like this?”

“I’m just saying… nevermind. Did you forget anything?”

“No.”

“Keys?”

“Check.”

“Wallet?”

“Che- shit.” he scurried back to his room. “Gonna be late, gonna be late!” He chanted as he practically ran out the door. 

  
  


***

  
  


The school's boys’ volleyball team always had practice early on Tuesdays. And since it was now November, the weather was colder, meaning they were on the inside court. How Sokka knew this, you may ask? Well, he was convinced that the team, led by their captain, was somehow scheming to overthrow his basketball team. He was constantly being reminded of how ridiculous this was by his sister and all his friends, though he still took to spying on the team every chance he got. That included now. 

He was just watching them through the window like a weird stalker, but since the window was higher up he was relying on his hands to keep him from tumbling down, both of them with a steady grasp on the bars of the window. It was all good and dandy until,

“Sokka? What the hell are you doing?” that startled him and he fell to the ground, looking up to see who had scared, sorry, surprised him so much. He saw three of his best friends, one of whom was also his ex girlfriend. It had been Aang who had so rudely interrupted him.

“No, Aang! What are  _ you _ doing? Huh?” They all looked at him confused, except for Toph, who was just amused. “You could’ve blown my cover!” 

“I’m sorry, Sokka, but you weren’t being exactly… secretive. We couldn’t have known that you wanted your cover-”

“That’s non existent.” Added Toph.

“-blown.” Suki seemed genuinely sorry, but maybe she was just sorry  _ for  _ him. 

He quickly looked back through the window, just to see if the disturbance had caused anyone to notice him. Only the captain, the guy with the scar, seemed to have noticed something and was looking in his direction, so Sokka quickly hid under the window. 

“We’ve still got some time before class. Wanna head to the library before we start?”

“No.”

“Come on Toph, what do you have against- Oh, right. Sorry.” 

“We could head to the café? I wanna grab a pastry before class. I’m still hungry after Katara so rudely finished the cereal this morning.”

“What was that about me being rude?”

“Katara! What are you doing here?’   
  


“This may come as a shock to you, but we go to the same school.”

“Not that. I meant- nevermind. Wanna go to the café?”

“Sure. I could really use a coffee right now.”

“Same.” added Suki.

“Didn’t you already have a cup or two on the way here?”

“Listen, Aang, if I want to survive, I need more than just ‘a cup or two’.”

“Uh, so relatable.” Katara gave her greeting to the rest of the group, kissing Aang on the cheek. The two had been dating for a few months now and were basically the school’s golden power couple. Head cheerleader and leader of the track team, straight A students, and all around nice and supportive people - everyone wanted to be their friend. 

“Ugh. Can you guys go be straight somewhere else?” asked Toph in what Sokka thought was mock disgust. Could’ve been totally serious though, knowing Toph. 

“I’m literally pan.” 

“Don’t care, didn’t ask.”

“But, you just-”

“Calm down Aang.”

“Let’s just go.”

Walking there gave Sokka plenty of time to think. That was never a good thing. Toph constantly made gay jokes, which always reminded Sokka of his questioning his sexuality. He was pretty sure he was bi, but there was a kind of doubt at the back of his head that nagged him. Was he really bi? Was he actually just gay and in denial? Was he really just straight and confusing his platonic attraction for sexual or romantic attraction? Why did people like coffee so much? He hated the taste. You could just buy a Monster Energy™ for like, the same price. Okay, maybe slightly more expensive. But it’s how he stayed awake most of the time. 

* * *

Zuko was so exhausted, he was ready to drop dead. He’s progressively sleeping less and less. Morning practice starts way too early, afternoon practice finishes way too late, and when he does get home all of the stress accumulated over the day stops him from having a good night’s sleep. His father is rarely home, and his sister is going through her rebellious phase, so it makes it even harder to look after her. And on the days when he doesn’t have practice, which includes weekends, he’s helping his uncle at his teashop, The Jasmine Dragon. 

Sometimes the team would also be stressful. Currently, he was dealing with Jet, the libero. Even though he was a great player, his muscly, yet thin figure was quick and he rarely failed in saving the ball, he was a terrible team player. He always thought he knew best, and that he should've been the one promoted to captain. There’s two problems with that - one, he didn’t know best. And two, he never even wanted to hear out anyone who disagreed with him. 

“Hey, Cap!” speak of the devil. Jet was running up to him. “Listen, I’ve got an idea. During our next game, let me set the ball. “ No. No way. Jet was a great libero, but nowhere near as good a setter as their actual setter, Akira.

“Oh, come on” he whined. Seeing that Zuko wasn’t acquiescing, he added, “Or I tell everyone.”

“Are you seriously trying to blackmail me into losing the game?”

“We won’t lose. No one would expect it, and certainly not the Bisons.” The Bisons were an opposing team from a different school, and Jet seemed to think that they were the scum of the Earth. Zuko, on the other hand, actually had respect for them. They were a good team that worked well together, and were always civil to everyone. Unlike Jet, who tried to insult them every chance he got, even during, no,  _ especially _ during games. As captain, he’d gotten more than a few warnings from judges. 

Jet continued rambling on about how great he was at everything and how much the Bisons sucked, and thinking that that was a sound argument he looked at Zuko expectantly.

“Yeah, no way.”

“Then I’m telling people.”

“What’re you going to tell people Jet?”

“You know what.” That he did. Zuko thought about it for a second. Was it worth it? No. He was in a position of power and had to do what was best for the team. What would his father do? He was in a position of power, right? 

Whenever Zuko had to make a decision, there were almost always only two factors that affected the decision. The first was ‘Would Uncle Iroh be proud?’ and the second ‘Would it make father proud?’ If it was Yes to the first and No to the second, he’d choose that. 

  
  


He just had to think of what his dad would do, and do the opposite.

“I say we let the team vote. Whatever the end result is, I’ll need you to promise that you won’t tell anyone.”

“Okay.”

“Do you give your word?”

“ _ Yes _ , I give you my word.” scoffed Jet. 

He called over the team and explained Jet’s proposition. After a show of hands it was quickly determined that almost everyone agreed with Zuko, except for one or two people, one of whom was Jet. 

Practice continued on normally, the only difference being that Jet seemed to hate Zuko now. More than usual - ordinarily, it would just be spitefulness out of jealousy. It was no secret that he wanted to be captain, after all. Now, he looked genuinely angry. 

Deciding that it would be best to ignore him, Zuko closed up the gym, and so he got changed later than the others. He always had breakfast before practice, so all he had to do was go to his locker and get his necessary textbooks and supplies for the day. It was a Tuesday, so that meant he had a free first period, then periods two and three were chemistry, then PE, then English, and finally, lunch break. He decided to head to the library for the next fifty minutes and get a headstart on homework. 

* * *

Sokka didn’t want any more calculus. Sure, he was good at it, but that didn’t make it any less boring. He looked at his timetable. 

“What’s your next period?”

“I already told you, dumbass. Literature with Ms. Knowles.”

“Well, I have chemistry,”

“I know, Sokka.”

“Stop interrupting Katara. I have chemistry  _ with _ volleyball captain boy.”

“I  _ know _ , Sokka.”

“What do you mean ‘you know’?”

“He’s the only plausible reason as to why you would be so riled up before class.”

“I-I’m not  _ riled _ up!  _ You’re _ riled up!”

Katara just sighed in response.

“We’re being assigned group projects now. Oh God, what if we’re partners! Would you help me fake my own death if he turns out to be my partner?”

“I’m sure it can’t be that bad. He probably isn’t that bad himself. And besides, chances of that happening are pretty low. How many people are in your Chem class?”

“21, including me?”

“Well that’s a one in twenty chance that he’ll be your partner.” 

“I-I know that!”

“Sure you do. Why are you so obsessed with him, anyway?”   
  


“I’m  _ not _ obsessed. End of discussion.”

“Fine.”

“Okay.”   
  


“So… how are things with Aang?”

“Great! He’s super sweet.”

“You know, for a weird ten year old hippie vegan, he isn’t half bad.”

“Sokka! “

“Kidding, I’m kidding.”

“He’s literally our age.” After a moment of silence, she asks, “So, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“You got a special…  _ person _ ? You know you can always tell me if you do, right? Whoever  _ they _ are, I’m sure  _ they’re _ great.”

“I know that you’re implying something, but I’m too sleep deprived to know what it is.” They’d reached the point where they split ways to go to their classrooms and they said their goodbyes.

Sokka knew exactly what she was implying. The way she highlighted the gender neutral pronouns and the sly look she gave him while she did that. And he knew she’d be fine with him if he came out.  _ When _ he came out. He kept having to remind himself that he’d have to come out at some point. He was grateful that Katara didn’t push the subject. In her own way, she probably wanted to tell him that she would be supportive of him. But to know that other people knew, without him telling them, was scary. Even if by ‘other people’ he meant his twin sister who he was with 24/7, the person that knew him better than he knew himself. It was 2021, so people probably wouldn’t judge him for it. No one that mattered would anyway. Except Toph, who would probably tease him for realizing so late. He already knew Katara’s attitude, and Aang wouldn’t even care. He himself said that he hated labels, but most identified with the term ‘pansexual’. But he was still afraid.

He halted when he heard the bell ring, too lost in thought to realize how much time had passed. Once the sound died out, he was suddenly aware of the fact that the bell ringing meant that he was late for class. He sprinted his way there, barging into the classroom. Everyone was already seated and the teacher had obviously just started saying something before he walked through the door.

* * *

“Sorry I’m late Mr. Smith I- “

“Ah, Sokka. Nice of you to join us. Take a seat, please. And, as I was saying, whoever you are sitting next to now will be your lab partner for the rest of the semester.”

Man-bun guy, or Sokka he realized his name was, looked around the room, scanning it for empty seats. But Zuko knew that they’d be sitting together as the only empty seat was next to him. Even though he was fairly popular, he was still a bit of a lone wolf. Apart from the team and his sister’s friend group, he didn’t interact with other humans in school. 

Sokka looked at him, then moved his eyes to the seat. It felt like a ‘they both reached for the gun’ energy. Or like ‘there was only one bed energy’ as Mai would have called it. His face went slightly red and he tried to ignore the thought. He had to stop doing this. 

Begrudgingly Sokka trudged on and sat next to him. They made eye contact for a solid five seconds and proceeded by not looking at each other for the next forty minutes. 

Mr. Smith, their chemistry teacher, was a nice enough guy, but he definitely had set his expectations way too high. Zuko actually felt really bad about it, and he was pretty sure some of his classmates felt the same, but the average high schooler simply did  _ not _ have the mental capacity to be genuinely excited about learning. No matter how hard a teacher tried and how interesting a subject was, it was still a subject in school. 

_ “You can use a spear for a walking stick, but it will not change its nature.” _

Their teacher continued to talk about their project. It was pretty important, and although he zoned out for most of it, he understood that it would make up for thirty percent of their semester grade, and it would consist of several different sub-projects that they would have to submit one by one and would get a grade for each of them, then the average of those grades would be the grade for the whole project. Which meant, screw one thing up, screw the entire thing up. And the grades would not be individual, so they would have to work together if they wanted to achieve anything. 

Shit.

Wait, no. Keep it PG.

Poop.

That’s better, Zuko.

He ripped a piece of paper from his notebook off and wrote on it. In the five minute break between the two periods, he slipped the note to Sokka. 

“Here, my number. We could meet up at my house later to start work.” It felt weird, doing that. He really hoped Sokka would take his job as lab partner seriously so he wouldn’t be left to do all the work. As antisocial as he was, he was still lazy.

“Oh, thanks.”

“Do you wanna meet up today after school? When do you finish?”

“Can’t today. Got practice.” Oh, right. Captain of the basketball team and all. “Tomorrow could work though, if you’re free then?”

“Yeah, tomorrow’s fine.”

“Sweet.” Sokka took out his phone and after what Zuko thought was adding his number to his contacts, he started playing Temple Run™. 

Zuko did what he always did when he had nothing to do - talk to his sister. Even though she was younger than him, it always felt as though he was in her shadow. The feeling was strongest around his father, and nonexistent when he was with his Uncle Iroh. 

**_zuko1:_ **

_ i got paired with man- bun guy for a science project. _

**_queena:_ ** __

_ does he even have a real name? _

__

__ **_zuko1:_ **

_ Sokka _

**_queena:_ ** __

_ ha gay _

He winced at that. He absolutely  _ hated _ it when she joked about him being gay. Which, he definitely wasn’t. 

_ anyway _

_ you’d be cute together y'know  _

**_zuko1:_ **

_ no _

_ no we wouldn’t _

**_queena:_ **

_ relax, im jk _

_ listen you e-boy lookin ass _

_ mai and lee are coming over tonight _

_ id really appreciate it if u could cover for me in front of dad _

**_zuko1:_ **

_ yeah sure no problem _

_ though i doubt he’d notice anything anyway _

**_queena:_ **

_ thanks _

_ it means a lot _

_ ur still dumb _

_ jk im jk _

_ seriously ur a lifesaver tho _

True, his sister could be cocky, rude and arrogant, but she had a soft side. It was shitty that the way she was raised made her feel like showing her soft side was a weakness. But when she did, she was understanding and empathetic and generally like, the sweetest person ever.

_ change ur username tho _

_ it sux  _

Sweet and understanding, right?

**_zuko1:_ **

_ yeah? _

_ what should i change it to _

_ and no _

_ im not changing it to princezuko _

_ or anything remotely similar _

**_queena:_ **

_ shame _

Their conversation was interrupted by the bell. He put his phone in his pocket and (tried to) turn his attention to his work. He kept zoning out. 

He  _ really _ needed more sleep.

* * *

_ One in twenty, right? _

Damn. If his sexuality crisis was gonna mess with him until it got to the point where thinking about it made him space and miss the fact that time was a thing, causing him to be late to class, forcing him to take the only available seat next to the kind of suspicious volleyball captain, then he had to do something about it.

Usually when things bothered him that much, letting them out was the easiest way to deal with them.

So, he had to let someone know. 

He couldn’t tell Katara, as he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. He didn’t want to get teased, which meant that he couldn’t tell Toph. And if he told Aang, he would definitely tell Katara, so that ruled him out. 

Which left Suki. His ex-girlfriend turned best friend. 

Would it be weird to talk to her about that? Probably. 

He decided to text her. Though no, text wouldn’t do, it was something that had to be said face to face. He was just gonna text her that they had to talk, when, upon opening his phone, he saw a notification.

**_awesomewarrior420:_ **

_ we need to talk. _

That didn’t sound good. Was she thinking of breaking up with him? Well, no, she couldn’t, they weren’t dating. That’s the text she sent him when they  _ were _ dating  _ to _ break up with him. Had they been dating this entire time without him realizing? And if they were, then that would make him a bad boyfriend, right? I mean, not knowing that you were dating someone would make anyone a bad partner, right?

**_69_ladybug_69:_ **

_ what about _

_ did something happen? _

****

**_awesomewarrior420:_ **

_ well kinda??? _

_ ig  _

_ it’s nothing terrible  _

_ but it’s about something kind of important to me _

_ i wanna tell u about it in person tho _

**_69_ladybug_69:_ **

_ i also wanted to talk to you about something _

_ do you wanna meet up after school? _

**_awesomewarrior420:_ **

_ sure  _

_ see u then _

_ byeeee _

**_69_ladybug_69:_ **

_ roger dodger _

_ ttyl _

He really hoped this wasn’t something to do with him. Even unintentionally, ‘we need to talk’ makes people panic. 

Oh God. What if she told him that she liked him? No, that wasn’t possible. Well, he thought that having to sit next to volleyball guy would also be (near) impossible, yet here the fuck they were.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“The moment you three stop cosplaying as the Mean Girls, but, like, red, let me know.”

Mai scowled at him.

“Sorry. Mean  _ people _ .”

“I- that’s- not what I- whatever. It’s just, those are some bold words coming from someone who looks like a cosplay of revenge era My Chemical Romance.”

“Wow, sick burn dude.”

Mai just shrugged. A couple of months ago, they’d told their friend group that they were non binary, and that they wanted to use gender neutral pronouns, so they/them/their. Zuko didn’t fully understand, but he was frankly way too scared of Mai to ignore their pronouns.

Classes were over, at least for him, and they were having a lunch break.

“You two stop arguing, Ty Lee and I are trying to brainstorm.”

“Oh?”

“Okay, so, basically we have this project for Lit where we have to make a short story, of about a thousand words, but we’re having trouble deciding on a topic, and it’s due in like, an hour, so we decided to write it now! ” 

“And  _ when _ was it assigned?”

“Oh Mai, always the pessimist. As long as you actually submit it on time, it doesn’t matter.”

“And dad won’t get mad.”

“That too.”

“My question still stands.”

“A month ago. Why?” Ty Lee was always super bubbly and cheery, Zuko never understood why she and his sadistic sister were such close friends. 

Knowing her, they would probably do it last minute, but it would somehow be amazing and they would get an A, maybe even an A+. That’s usually how things worked out for Azula.

While the two of them tried figuring out what to write about, which mostly consisted of Ty Lee shouting out ideas and the Azula turning them down and giving reasons why they wouldn’t work, he and Mai ate mostly in silence. It was normal, comfortable. He liked it when things stayed the same, because allowing no room for change, meant that there was no room for  _ bad _ change. It was a pretty solid plan, in his opinion. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Sokka was nervous when left alone with his thoughts for too long. Right now, he was just awaiting for his lunch break to end just to have some kind of distraction, even if that meant classwork. 

Toph had only six periods one Tuesdays, and Suki had a class rep meeting of some kind. So that meant that he had two options: thinking about what his conversation with Suki was supposed to be about and whether he’d done anything wrong - even if they weren’t together and their feelings were purely platonic, he still valued her as a friend and she meant a lot to him, and the second was third wheeling. And Aang and Katara were  _ that _ annoying couple in their ‘honeymoon phase’. So, panicking it was. 

*** 

Practice was ok. It was fine. It was  _ decent _ . He felt like the team rarely listened to him. He tried, he really did, and it was possibly just his imagination, but he felt like he was losing his grip as captain. 

He got dressed and locked the gym up, before finding Suki at the entrance waiting for him. 

Had he been him from a year ago, he definitely would’ve planned on making a joke about how women took too long to get ready. She still would’ve arrived at their meeting point before him though. 

“Hey traitor.” They sometimes called each that other jokingly, in light of the fact that she was captain of the girls’ volleyball team, and he was a basketball player. 

“So, what did you wanna talk to me about?” he asked, when he noticed that Suki looked something she rarely did, nervous.

“I believe that you also had something you wanted to say to me?” she asked, voice breaking slightly. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed, but they knew each other too well not to.

Oh, right. He was planning on coming out to her. About the possibility of him not being straight. 

He was nothing if not brave, but he was also a coward.

He sighed. They wouldn’t get anywhere if no one backed down and no one stepped up. She seemed to come to the same conclusion.

“On the count of three?” she suggested.

  
  
  


“One… 

Two… 

Three…”

Then, at the same time:

“I’m bisexual.”

“I think I might be bi!”

They stared at each other in surprise before bursting out in hysterical laughter, all in unison. All that worry for nothing. It was a bit like looking into a mirror for Sokka, and he wondered if Suki felt the same. He was glad to have her as a friend, one who he now knew understood exactly what he was going through, and one he understood exactly what she was going through. 

  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't care if the fic starts on a tuesday blue monday is just a great song
> 
> just to clarify, they're all 17, except for toph, ty lee and azula who are 16
> 
> the quote is from Madeline Miller from The Song of Achilles (it's a great book, 10/10, definitely recommend reading. hella gay)
> 
> Whenever there's a horizontal line, there's a POV switch. Spotify playlist in the making!  
> Updates may range from once to twice a week. Also I guess it's 2020 or 2021 in this AU, but the virus isn't a thing.
> 
> When Sokka talks about being bi, those are just kind of my experiences with sexuality. Obviously not all bisexuals have the same experience, but it was a kind of self- reflection ig.
> 
> also on wattpad under the same name

**Author's Note:**

> i don't care if the fic starts on a tuesday blue monday is just a great song
> 
> just to clarify, they're all 17, except for toph, ty lee and azula who are 16
> 
> the quote is from Madeline Miller from The Song of Achilles (it's a great book, 10/10, definitely recommend reading. hella gay)
> 
> Whenever there's a horizontal line, there's a POV switch. Spotify playlist in the making!  
> Updates may range from once to twice a week. Also I guess it's 2020 or 2021 in this AU, but the virus isn't a thing. 
> 
> When Sokka talks about being bi, those are just kind of my experiences with sexuality. Obviously not all bisexuals have the same experience, but it was a kind of self- reflection ig.


End file.
